Do No Wrong
by Mya Latti
Summary: The last time she had seen Benga was at least four months ago and admittedly she had missed him a little bit. But Iris would never admit something so mushy to him, he was a boy. Ew. — Iris/Benga.
1. Chapter 1

_I think Benga/Iris has to be one of the most adorable ships in the whole fandom! Seriously, they're just like two wild kids that happen to be really good at battling. I totally reckon they would have seen a lot of each other as kids too, considering Drayden being a mayor and gym leader and Benga being Alder's grandson._

_ANYWAY, I was totally disappointed to find that there was one story on this site about Benga and it was in Spanish. So yeah, I wrote one. Kinda hard to know what he's like though since he had hardly any dialogue in the games, but enjoy._

_I own nothing, as usual._

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_you couldn't __**do no wrong **__in my eyes_

pt. 1

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"Iris, I need you to be on your best behaviour, alright?" Drayden knocked on the door in front of them and then bent down so he was at the young girl's eye level. "That means no interrupting when I'm speaking to Alder unless it's really important."

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, reluctantly agreeing to his terms. She'd be dragged along to Alder's house with grandpa so he could talk to the other man about some boring work stuff and understandably, she didn't want to be here. It was going to be _so _boring just waiting around at some grown up's house and she'd much prefer to be back home playing with the dragon pokemon, at least they knew how to run around and have fun. Usually she got out of coming to these things but everyone in the gym had been busy with their own things and couldn't look after her for the day, so she'd been forced to come along.

Drayden ruffled her hair and she batted his hand away, letting him know how entirely displeased she was with the situation before turning to face the creaking door which was now opening. The noise surprised Drayden and he jumped back up to standing, clearing his throat. Alder was standing in the front door; grinning at the fact he'd caught the other man off guard and motioning them inside.

None of that was interesting though because Iris had just noticed something, something no one had told her about. Behind Alder's leg, there was another seven year old with bright orange hair and a dirty face peering at her curiously. He didn't look mean, but she took an immediate dislike to him anyway. He was a boy and that meant he would be loud and annoying and probably wasn't a fan of dragon pokemon. They didn't say anything to one another but instead just stared until Drayden ushered her inside and into the living room.

"Who's that?" She whispered crossly, the previous frustration of being forced to come was now forgotten and she was just annoyed she hadn't been told there was going to be another kid. Her grandpa just shrugged though; apparently he was as unenlightened as she was.

"This is Benga, Iris," Alder answered. Okay, maybe she hadn't been as quiet with the whispering as she'd thought. "He's my grandson. I think you two will get along well too, you're a lot like one anoth-."

"I'm not like a _girl!_" The boy suddenly exclaimed, cutting the end of the sentence off. Iris glared at him and he poked his tongue out before finishing, "That's gross."

His granddad just rolled his eyes and pushed Benga forward. "Come on, you two should go outside and play. We'll just be in here discussing work matters if you need us." And with that they were sent back outside, both protesting that they didn't want to play with the other but receiving no sympathy from their respective grandparents.

The door was left open so they could keep an eye on the youngsters, but it really didn't improve of the situation. Benga was looking at her with wide eyes and a frown on his face and she could tell that he liked her just about as much as she liked him. Eventually he got bored of watching her and realising she wasn't going to say anything, turned away and ran towards the trees opposite his grandfather's house. He placed his arms around the trunk of one of them and then like a massive bug, scrambled his way up to the closest branch.

Iris didn't even know this boy, but climbing trees was one of her favourite things to do and she couldn't stand to be outdone by him. So she ran towards the tree too and climbed up it, swinging her way to a higher branch. Benga was so surprised and looked on with his mouth hanging slightly open and she easily navigated her way up. He clamped it shut when she came to a stop and jumped from his spot, landing on the soft grass and then sprinting towards the next tree. She followed him again and again, slowly gaining ground and on the fifth time almost making it at the same time.

It was a race to the highest branch this time and in all their haste, Benga almost knocked her out the tree and she had to cling onto a lower branch so she didn't topple down and hurt herself.

"Hey, no fair!" She whined, steadying herself.

"Well, what're you doing followin' me then?"

"Dunno, I got nothing else to do," Once she was steady on the branch, she carefully stood up on her toes so she could look him squarely in the face. This was too close for comfort for the young boy and he pushed himself away, climbing lower down the tree and then jumping off the branch. She followed, landing about half a metre further than him. "And I'm just trying to make the time go faster till I can go home."

He nodded, seemingly understanding where she was coming from – either he wanted her to go too or he wanted to get home to his own place. It was pretty quiet after that and they just kind of looked at each other, expecting the other to come up with something to do to.

Eventually Benga seemed to stumble upon an idea and said, "We could have a battle," It was suggested after many long minutes of thought. "I don't have any pokemon, but I could probably borrow Gramps's," Before she had a chance to answer, he ran inside and emerged again thirty seconds later wearing a frown. "He said no, but that's probably a good thing for you because I'd totally win."

"Yeah right," She placed her hands on her hips. "But we could always just pretend, I play that at home all the time."

"Alright," He agreed. "You stand over there and I'll be on this side." He pointed to the far side of the yard for her and shifted slightly so he was already in his spot.

"Don't tell me where to go," She poked out her tongue but took her side on the makeshift battleground at the front of the house anyway. "I'm going to be a haxorus!"

"No way, they're too strong."

Sticking her nose up in the air, she replied with an indignant, "We never made any rules about that."

"Okay, _fine,_" He drew out the end of the word and made a face. "If you get to be a haxorus, then I'm totally gonna be...Mewtwo!"

She gasped, "No way, isn't that that super powerful pokemon in that Kanto place?"

Her impressed reaction was clearly what Benga wanted and he nodded, pleased with himself for being so worldly (though in reality he didn't know a single thing about this Mewtwo, not even what type it was). "Yep, and I'm gonna kick your butt! Let's start!"

_Ah, that sounded like a real challenge there, Benga_. Iris _never _declined a challenge and with a rock solid determination, she sprinted forward towards him.

It was all very polite at first, kind of running around and dodging each other. But after about five minutes, Iris got frustrated with not getting anywhere and when he launched a flamethrower attack, used it as an opening to tackle him to the ground. He made an _'hey!' _sound and kicked his legs around, surprised by the sudden attack. A brief struggle ensued, but the end resulted in Iris getting her hair pulled and then her biting down hard on his arm in retaliation. He let out a scream which she would tease him about for years to come and that alerted the grown ups to their predicament.

Except it wasn't a predicament at all. They immediately sat up, Iris terrified because maybe she'd gone too far and Benga grinning. The smile greatly reassured the young girl and she didn't suddenly didn't dislike him as much as she first had. In fact, it had actually been pretty fun and he really wasn't as annoying as she'd initially thought. Later on Benga told her that from his point of view they were friends from that point on because no one else had ever been willing to play rough with him.

"What's going on?" Alder's voice boomed as he announced himself in the yard. The front door banged shut behind him and the noise made Iris jump and her heart beat like a butterfree in her chest, she was going to get in _so _much trouble.

"Nothing, gramps," Benga replied, inconspicuously hiding the arm where her teeth marks were still visible behind his back. "Iris and I were running around and I tripped over, that's all." In hindsight, it was a really bad excuse but at the time she thought he pulled it off so smoothly. Whether or not Alder believed him though, he saw there was no trouble and let them be, returning inside while shaking his head slowly.

"Thanks." She mouthed, not sure whether or not the older man would hear and admittedly absolutely still terrified. He grinned and just like that, they weren't just friends, they were_ best_ friends. After all, as a kid there was no stronger bonding force than not ratting you out to an adult.


	2. Chapter 2

_woop this chapter ended up being way way longer than I intended. Don't even know how I managed to write so much stuff. And in case you can't tell, this is pre-BW2 but not long before, about eight years time difference between the last chapter.  
_

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_hold you tightly before the sun, don't take it from my arms_

pt. 2

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Iris lifted her hand up, shielding her eyes from the sun but squinting nonetheless. The view from the top of the League building was amazing, but the early morning sunshine hit everything at the wrong angle and made it absolutely impossible to see anything. Still, every day she'd think that maybe the sun would rise at a slightly different angle and would try to look out over her region. Well, her adopted region at least and unfailingly every day she would go blind for a few minutes. But it was okay because when she could see again, it was worth it and she could see _everything._

This morning though, it wasn't working for her. She could see Castelia in the distance, the water glistening in the sunlight and the ships in the harbour, and while it looked pretty she couldn't appreciate it. You see, since winning the Champion's title a few months ago she'd been having an absolute blast. But of course the good things always come with bad sides too and when she wasn't having fun, she was absolutely stressed to the max, which was where she was today. There was a lot of paperwork to do and the challengers were few and far between which was pretty lame but at least it gave her time to train her pokemon. The days were long and gruelling and she got pretty tired by the end of them and not to mention the media attention. That was the worst part.

It amounted to a surprising amount of work (more than she'd ever imagined for the position) and all that on top of being the youngest Champion in the region's history made for some pretty high stress levels. Especially since she was so young; she wasn't a typical teenager and had always preferred the company of trees to people, but she did have those typical teenager insecurities and sometimes she wondered if she was doing an okay job.

She lowered her arm and wandered over to her chair that was conveniently _not _facing the sun. She sat down so her legs were hanging over the edge and her head fell back, wondering if anyone would mind if she just went home. Usually when she got like this she'd go fight the Elite Four, but apparently five times was enough yesterday and they needed a break. Even Marshall didn't want to and he was _always _willing to spar with her.

So that meant that there was nothing else to do right now but sleep. Just as Iris found herself drifting off though, there was a loud thud, followed by an indiscernible yell and then footsteps coming closer. She sat up, suddenly wide awake and jumped up to run towards the edge again. The sun was up now and she could clearly see the figure sprinting towards her, looking like they were running away from something. It still took a moment to register who it was though but when she did, she took off down the stairs to meet them.

"Benga!" She screamed, throwing her arms around him in a hug just before they collided headfirst and knocked each other over.

"Hey, Miss Champion," He returned, burying his face into her mess of hair in a way that he had done since they were little and he knew she hated because it reminded her of when he'd pulled it. "What's been going on?"

"Not much," She answered, kind of moving her head away so he would stop but still clinging to him. They hadn't seen each other since she'd won the title and though she'd never admit anything so mushy to him, she had maybe missed him a teensy little bit. But despite that, he was just so warm and comfy that it was hard not to hug anyway.

Wait, hold that thought.

She sniffed him in the most inconspicuous manner and then pulled away, making a face of over the top disgust. "You smell like cologne or something, what's the deal?"

"Aw man, I was hoping you wouldn't notice that," He kicked the ground dejectedly. "Gramps gave it to me the other day, said that now I was fifteen I had to start acting like a man or something. I dunno what _eau de toilette _has to do with that and I haven't worn it at all until now but I saw him earlier and I knew he'd ask if I didn't."

It was funny, the fancy smell was such a contrast to his torn and filthy clothes - the torn and filthy clothes that were much more torn and filthy than usual. He was a pretty messy guy, but his shirt wasn't usually this dirt-streaked and neither was his _face _for that matter. Did he just fall headfirst into a puddle of mud or something? The scenario was funny and she suppressed a smile, making a mental note to ask him about it later on. "Did he say anything?"

"Yeah, he told me he was proud of how I was growing up which I guess is good, but now I just smell weird," He crinkled up his nose and tugged at aforementioned shirt for emphasis. "But anyway, enough about me and what about _you? _What's with this big pink frilly dress you're wearing?"

"Same thing," She rolled her eyes and he nodded understandingly. "Drayden gave it to me when I beat your granddad, apparently I'm supposed to dress kind of fancy now."

"Ew, I like you better when you're in shorts and a shirt. This doesn't look like Iris."

"Don't you think I'm pretty then, Benga?" She punched his arm and he blushed, exactly the reaction she'd been hoping for. "But yeah, I don't like it either." He poked out his tongue at her end comment and she returned the sentiment before grabbing his arm and pulling him up the stairs. It took a while with much protesting that _he could make his own way up _but eventually they got to the top and she showed him around her relatively small workspace. As expected, he didn't like all the fancy stuff but the rest he thought was pretty awesome.

When she showed him the view though, he finally admitted that she had the coolest job in the world and stood on the edge to admire their region just as she had tried to do not even twenty minutes ago. She stepped up behind him, fully intending to appreciate it too now that the glare was gone, but found herself staring at her oldest friend instead. The last time she'd seen him had been at least four months ago and while he still _looked _the same, he was a lot taller than he had been then. While that in itself wasn't funny, the fact that he was still wearing the same clothes was hilarious and his shorts now sat way above his knees in a way that was incredibly dorky but adorable at the same time.

Wait no, Benga was _not _adorable. Why had she even thought that?

She shook her head to get rid of the thought and her sudden movement attracted his attention. He spun around and almost fell over, making Iris laugh - obviously he wasn't used to be so tall himself. His expression was a mixture of surprise and confusion to find her standing so close and he said in a tone that matched, "What're you doing lookin' at me like that?"

"Fighting the urge to push you down the stairs."

They stared at each other for a moment and then Benga turned back around and started sprinting from where he came. He shouted something like _'you'll have to catch me first!' _and Iris - who history had shown was never one to decline a challenge - followed suit, chasing him down to the bottom. Much to her annoyance though, it was difficult to run in the massive dress and she was slower than usual, only catching up to him when he had already reached the end of the stairs. Even then he watched her run towards him awkwardly and when she wasn't even five feet away, scooted up the wall surrounding the entire League building so she couldn't reach him.

She tried to jump up the same way he did and managed to get halfway before her skirt got in the way and she tumbled back down into the orange dust. Frowning, she stood back up and dusted herself off. "This isn't fair, I can't get up there with this outfit."

"Take it off then." He replied, scooting himself around as if he wasn't sitting ten metres up in the air and able to fall down at any moment. He didn't realise what he had said though, but Iris did and if she had been drinking anything she would have spat it everywhere.

"Excuse me?" She was indignant, they may have been teenagers now but that did not mean he could speak like that.

Shrugging his shoulders, he moved slightly closer. "Well, surely you've got something on underneath right? You always used to wear leggings and stuff..."

Oh. _Oh. _That's what he meant. Breathing a sigh of relief, she shook her head - he was just as clueless about everything even at their slightly older age. He made a good point though, maybe she should start wearing shorts underneath this stupid dress. It meant she could be prepared for anything, even surprise visits where she'd be forced to climb a wall to chase her best friend. But there was nothing she could do about that now, except maybe...just maybe...

She said a quick mental apology to her grandpa and undid the bow at the front. Then with all her might, she lifted the bottom half of the skirt and made a tear at an acceptable length and ripped it apart. The sleeves were harder, but she tore them at the stitching and discarded the bits of material at the bottom of the wall. She kicked her shoes off and relishing in the sudden freedom of not being completely cloaked in heavy material, scooted up after Benga. She'd deal with the guilt of the ruined dress later, but for now she couldn't be shown up by this lanky friend of hers.

"You look better," He commented once she'd climbed up and taken a seat next to him. "Now come on." He stood up, apparently the contest was over now and motioned for her to follow. Man, if she'd ripped the dress up for nothing she'd be so annoyed.

"No," She answered, throwing a glance back towards her chair. "I shouldn't, technically I'm at work."

"Really, Iris? _Really?_"

"Yeah, Benga. I have a _job _now and I can't just skive off. It's a big responsibility, you know."

"Um, hello, you're fifteen," He sighed and grabbed a hold of her arm, pulling her to standing too. His expression looked disappointed and on top of feeling bad for ruining the outfit, she'd now upset Benga. "They're not gonna be mad at you for taking a break for a few hours. Plus, when have you ever cared about that sort of thing? Where has the old Iris gone? Maybe she's actually from Lacunosa town and that Kyurem thing has taken her!" He let go of her and placed the back of his hand on his forehead melodramatically.

She stifled a laugh and let him pull her along. She wanted to do this, but she _did _have a responsibility to the League; it had taken them a lot to let someone so young grab the reigns and she wanted to show them she could do it. But you know, it was only one time and she hardly ever had challengers so it would probably be okay, right? She'd just have to trust Benga on this one (past experiences had shown her this wasn't the best idea, but you never know this time).

Together they precariously made their way along the _really _high wall towards the entrance of the League. It was kind of cool, she'd never seen the building from this angle before and she could see everything below. The lack of challengers, the cool statues, _everything._ Anyway, as they crept along, she made a quick detour towards the closest room, which so happened to be Shauntal's. Peeking in through the window, she could see the older girl chatting to Grimsley inside. Well, it looked like they were chatting but she had suspicions about their relationship so it could have been a number of other things.

She leaned in further to try and get a better look, but unfortunately this cast her shadow on the floor below and alerted the two adults to her presence, making them look up in surprise. Shauntal's face was reminiscent of a darmanitan (that is, bright red), mirroring her own as she was holding her breath so she wouldn't laugh and make it worse. Quickly, she moved from the window and when they'd gotten far enough away, they both burst into fits. It was an awkward situation, but she couldn't deny that her coworkers' expressions had been hilarious.

Once straightening themselves out, Benga motioned for her to continue and completely disregarding their safety by running this time, he directed her to a part of the wall where it got closer to the ground. He jumped off it easily and she followed, making sure she jumped out further than him just because. They didn't linger long though and he continued running into the wild, disregarding the startled looks of the few trainers and only coming to a stop underneath a tree that a good fifty metres away from the entrance to the League.

The two of them had to stand there for a few minutes to catch their breath and when _he _had, Benga jumped up and grabbed hold of the branch above him. "There, we're out!" He cheered, kicking his legs around with absolutely no grace.

"Was that your plan all along?" Iris replied, watching him amusedly. "To break me out of there? Because I'm totally blaming you if I get in trouble."

He tried to shrug while still hanging from the tree but ended up falling back down onto the grass with a thud. Before he had a chance to stand back up, she took a seat next to him and forced him to stay still for a moment. She loved running around outside just as much as he did, but it wouldn't kill him just to relax for a moment. Plus, she hardly got a chance to come out into Victory Road and it was nice just to appreciate it out here without having to be constantly moving. They were good for each other like that - while they did have a lot in common, she was slightly more chilled and calmed his occasionally annoying hyperactive personality down.

Plus Victory Road was like, her favourite place anyway. Despite leading up to a manmade structure, she thought it was the wildest place in Unova where the pokemon were strong and you could find really awesome trainers! The whole area was sort of at mercy to the elements too, sometimes there would be fierce storms or blisteringly hot days and when that was the case, you and your pokemon were on your own. Getting through here really proved how strong your bond with your team was and being the Champ and all, that was really important to her.

When she was younger, she had had to come to the League with Drayden all the time for his meetings and then when she had gotten slightly older, for meetings about their shared leader position too. But she had never had time to explore Victory Road and had just watched enviously out the boardroom window, wishing that she could go out there and battle all the strong pokemon and trainers. It was only a few months ago (just before she'd won the Champion title) that she'd finally got to travel the route and let her just say, it was as exciting as she'd hoped. Iris had always had trouble finding where she fit in - not because she was disliked or anything but just because she wasn't from Unova. Here though, probably because of the lack of people, she felt one with it all. She _was _Iris and these trees couldn't prove otherwise.

Or maybe she just liked the wildness of it. That was probably it.

So yeah, it was nice just to hang out here for a while.

"Oh, by the way," Now that they were sitting and she actually had time to think about it. "How did you get in anyway? Surely you didn't battle all of the Elite Four."

"What are you saying, Iris? That you don't think I could beat them all? I'll have you know I made it to the top of the..."

"Yeah, yeah, the top of the Black Tower. I _know._"

He crossed his arms over his chest, only slightly annoyed at having his accomplishments waved off so blatantly. He was _proud _of that! She was only teasing though and he'd realise that as soon as he put that pride away. "To be honest though, I climbed in the way that we climbed out. I used to do it all the time when Gramps was the Champion and I was in the area so I figured I'd come visit you."

"Right," She grinned, sidling up closer to him. "Who's ever just _in _Victory Road?" His face flushed red and he jumped up, averting his eyes so he wasn't looking at her. Her grin got wider at this, slightly flattered that he'd come all this way just to visit little old her. She dwelled on this for a while and Benga - who had apparently gotten over his embarrassment quickly - started swinging on the branch again. Feeling like it was up to her now to stop his boredom, she hopped up and jumped on the branch too, hooking her legs around it so she was hanging upside down. Then when she found she was comfortable enough and before all the blood rushed to her head, she said, "Well, what did you wanna do now?"

Never one to be outdone, he copied her and hung feet first on the branch opposite. His hair drooped down in a way that made him resemble a volcarona a little too closely and his grandfather even more and she had to blink twice to make sure she wasn't talking to Alder. "You tell me, I hadn't thought that far."

"Battle, I guess." She was starting to get dizzy now, but she wouldn't let Benga win this time. She'd always been able to hang upside down longer than him anyway and just because now they were older, that wasn't going to change.

"Nah," He shook his head. "If I won, you'd lose your job and since I'm _such _a good friend, I wouldn't want that to happen."

"You're just saying that because you know you'd lose." And then as if on queue, he toppled down for the second time that day and landed head first on the soft grass below them. Mentally fist pumping, she swung herself back around and pulled up so she was sitting on the branch and looking down at him. She had a perfect winning streak when it came to hanging from things and luckily that hadn't been broken today.

"As if," He yawned in the middle of the words and laid back, folding his arms behind his head. "My grandpa was the Champion too, remember?" It was said so half-heartedly that she didn't even feel the need to comment back, so instead she just watched him from her perch. It was funny to see, this was the first time she'd ever seen him willingly slow down like this. When he was younger he'd always wanted to move on to the next adventure, running around till he'd collapse where he was standing from tiredness. Perhaps this now was a more grown up version of that because they'd come pretty far today, but who knows how far _he'd_ travelled before he visited her.

"Speaking of Champions, I should probably get back or I might get in trouble."

"No, don't go," He yawned again, closing his eyes. Her mouth twitched up into a smile, well that was definitely enough to make her stay. "And you know, it doesn't suit you to be all serious. Lighten up again, Iris."

"I'm just so stressed out, what if I mess up and they hate me?" She mumbled, half-hoping he wouldn't hear her.

"Don't be," His reply was even quieter. "You're doing a good job." ...and he was asleep.

It had been four months since she'd seen him last and when you're fifteen years old undoubtedly a lot changes in that time. Take her for example, she was now the strongest trainer in the whole Unova region and held a full-time job that recognised that. When he'd first ran up those stairs to meet her, she must have been pretty unrecognisable. She felt like that herself actually, so swept up in the surrealness of it that she hadn't had time to come outside and just appreciate what had happened. She was so petrified that she wasn't going to do well and let the League down, doing well was all she had been thinking about. Now that she'd torn the dress up (_sorry grandpa_) and was sitting in a tree with no shoes on, she felt more normal again and that it was okay just to relax.

So yeah, she couldn't even imagine what it was like for Benga. His life hadn't really changed but everything else seemed to have - well, height and voice-wise at least. Did he even feel like the same person? Maybe - and this wasn't a bad thing - he could finally admit to being tired too, if this sleepy figure in front of her was any indication.

But sitting here like this, she was reminded of a few years back when they were both wandering trainers, sometimes travelling together and sometimes apart. They were good partners because both understood the other and wouldn't get offended when they would run off to go do something alone. _Heh_, now that she thought about it, their relationship hadn't really changed. No matter how much time they did spend apart, they'd be able to fall back into the same routine of being _too _comfortable around one another; a bond that is reserved for siblings and kids that have known each other for a long time. Plus he'd always be the same guy, just taller and kind of cuter too.

Smiling to herself at the conclusion she'd come to and the sudden weight off her shoulders from his one tiny comment, Iris looked up from the dozing boy to the trees in the distance. There were some close by too and she'd been sitting here for far too long, so the only logical thing to do now would be to jump and swing through them all. Standing up on the branch, she gauged the distance of the jump to the next one. She could make it easily but if she did happen to fall it would be on top of Benga, which would be fine. So steadying herself, she got ready to make the leap.

Unfortunately though, these plans were cut short when a noise that sounded a lot like an earthquake attack started echoing through the leaves. This was soon joined by the ground shaking also like an earthquake attack but about ten times stronger and subsequently making the tree shake too. She didn't have time to think about what it might be and grabbed a hold of the trunk and hung on for dear life, hoping that her pokemon back at the League were okay. They would be of course, but too bad for her she wasn't a match for the shaking and found herself hurled off the branch very soon after.

But hey, it was okay! She'd only land on top of Benga, remember?

Wait no, it was _not _okay. Why? Well the angle she'd fallen off had resulted in her landing straight on top of him in an awkward position where her lips had collided with his forehead in a way that resembled a kiss. It was definitely the least romantic kiss in the history of kisses but considering their past and the way they were both dressed, it was probably the most fitting.

It took her a moment though to register that she was currently smooching the top of her best friend's head and when she did, the shaking had stopped and she scrambled up while blushing like mad. He was wide awake too and any hope she had of him being unconscious during the fiasco had flown out the window. She wasn't even concerned about what the hell the earthquake-like thing had been anymore because _she had just accidentally kissed Benga!_

"I am so sorry."

"Nah, it's cool," He replied nonchalantly and with that strange confidence that most boys had after being kissed for the first time. If she wasn't cringing so much then she might have thought it adorable, but alas. The confidence he'd just exhibited seemed to have disappeared as quickly as it appeared though and he added quietly, "You're cute, Iris."

And to this day, Iris will swear she's never been more relieved than she was then - all was not lost! So with that sudden morale boost from his comment, she replied with, "You're cute too," And they stared at each other in that awkward teenagers-with-crushes way for a minute until she spoke up again. "You've got to kiss _my_ forehead now, it's not fair that only I did it." She blamed the fact that she was slightly delirious from the situation and confession for what she said there, totally not her fault.

He opened his mouth to protest but then closed it again straight after, considering her proposal. He appeared thoughtful for a moment and then in true Benga fashion, as he knew he couldn't lost this challenge (whatever challenge it was, anyway), he said, "Fine."

She would admit that as he leant in towards her, there were butterfrees in her stomach and a huge smile on her face. But just as his lips met her forehead, there was a loud yell of _'Iris!' _and they both looked up, startled and mortified to find Marshall stomping towards them. He looked furious and she briefly wondered if he had been the source of the earthquake before.

"What are you doing out here with Alder's grandkid?" He fumed and she looked at the ground sheepishly. "You know better than to desert your post, especially when you have a challenger waiting."

"I have a challenger waiting?" She exclaimed, jumping up from her spot next to Benga in excitement. A kiss was all well and good, but she finally had someone strong to fight! Oh and it all made sense now, the loud noises and the shaking before would have come from the statue elevator thing that led to where she battled. It was so massive and made really loud noises, it was probably a good thing that it didn't get used too often. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea." The apology was partly to Benga and partly to Marshall, but she wasn't sure what their reactions were as she had already taken off back towards the League. If she was fired because of this Benga was so going to get it.

Feeling that she couldn't completely dismiss what had just happened though, she turned around as she was running and shouted to her best friend in a sort of sing-song teasing way, "Benga likes Iris, Benga likes Iris!"

"Shut up!" He yelled back. "Iris likes Benga too, anyway!"

* * *

_you're the only heart I seek, every word you say_

_fin._


End file.
